"And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name." - Acts 22:16

HOW TO PUBLICALLY IDENTIFY WITH CHRIST

February 28, 2016

Each individual has to make a major personal decision in life. That decision occurs when Christ is reaching out to you. And you then call on Him, and receive His grace, His forgiveness, His promise of a new life, and His promise of eternal life. Then He tells you to publicly identify with Christ so that the world will know that you are a follower. And the way you publicly identify with Christ is to be baptized.

I realize a lot of you were baptized as infants, but there’s nothing in the Bible about being baptized as an infant. It is an important tradition in many churches, but Jesus doesn’t teach anything about it. Jesus does teach that if we are going to begin to be His followers, then we should proclaim that identity through baptism. Baptism is kind of a Christian initiation ceremony. Just as a couple will publicly declare their love by having a wedding ceremony, a Christian will proclaim his or her affiliation with Christ through the baptismal ceremony. If you want to identify with Jesus, the way Christ commands us to do that is to be baptized as a testimony of our faith.

Does being baptized make you a Christian? No. But, if you are a believer and you haven’t been baptized, I encourage you to take that step of faith soon. You’ll be amazed at the blessing you will feel as you share your faith in front of others. If you haven’t asked Jesus to come into your heart, there’s no better time than right now to take care of that, and the first step of faith is to follow Jesus and publicly profess your faith in Him.